Thursday, November 24, 2011

Renoir and Biot

I know I'm jumping around a bit here, but can I take you back to Antibes?

Our second day there we journeyed a little further afield to the Musée Renoir in Cagnes-sur-Mer, followed by an afternoon in the town of Biot (pronounced Bee-ot). Both are only about a 20 min drive to the north of Antibes.

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Farmhouse in the grounds at the Musée Renoir

The Musée was Renoir's home from 1907 until his death in 1919. He lived there with his wife and three sons, and various other artist friends who passed through. You can see works (paintings and sculptures) from Renoir and his mates, as well as his preserved studio.

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The back's a bit boring.

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Much nicer from the front.

There was some film footage on a television in one of the rooms, showing Renoir in his 70s, painting. He was wheelchair bound with severe arthritis by then, his hand completely bent over, finger-tips to wrist. But he still went on working. I loved that he would ask his house maids to strip off and model for him, perhaps this explains his work ethic.

The house is set in a lovely old olive grove with trees that are who knows how many hundreds of years old. The kids loved it and could run around playing while the mister and I took turns at going through the house.

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Out the front of the maison is a formal orange grove, complete with sculpture.

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In a few places around the grounds they've set up Renoir's paintings overlooking the views he used to create them. I thought this was a brilliant idea - it felt pretty special to be standing on the same earth, looking at same vista that the old fella himself had painted.

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After a lovely morning we headed to nearby Biot, which is well known for its glass (there is a factory you can tour there, we didn't get around to it).

First things first: lunch. Then a bit of a wander. We found a nice playground up in the old part of town and I skulked off to take some pictures.

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Cool mosaic map in the old town.

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Cobblestones galore

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A lovely splash of colour here

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And there

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Street art

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You can see why we never made it to the glass tour. This is the wrong phase of my life to be buying glass anyway.

Back to the present, I have been doing some hand sewing. This is for a friend:

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And today I am doing a little stitching for myself (toddler permitting):

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Hope you're all having a great week.

13 comments:

Carolyn said...

How gorgeous is Biot? I adore those buttresses between buildings. I first saw them in Viviers. Do you think they were worried the buildings might fall over?

Jasmine said...

ALl those lovely cobblestones! Not many skateboards or in-line skaters there I reckon...
Had a lovely day here, too - I blogged about it. I might just go back and add some links to photos etc to make yu homesick...
Hugs, Jas
PS Noice quilt, love.

Anonymous said...

Oh that photo with the roses in it is so lovely! And I love the aqua doors and shutters. What a pretty place. Love the back of the house though I'm afraid. Clearly you are just getting used to such beauty! Just look that those windows. They are soooo nice. Your photos are too beautiful once again and make me want to hop on a plane which is so not practical right now! Thank you my dear for bringing the look to me.

Sarah Red Gingham

Anonymous said...

Oh and very nice blue and yellow squares too! Very interesting. Can't wait to see what you are making. Loving your choice of thread for the blue one.

Sarah

Susan said...

Pretty aqua and orange co-ordination happening- shutters and roses matching the stitching! Lovely! BTW Do all your troupe scare the citizens away! Not another person in sight! Ha!

**Anne** said...

What a beautiful place to visit with history, art and gorgeous French buildings and cobblestoned streets. Your photos are beautiful.
I'm dying to know what you are making. Looks very interesting.
Have a wonderful day,
Anne xx

Marg said...

Love the little peeks of what you are making, especially the red stitching on the aqua pieces.
As always, beautiful photos, thank you.

Poppyprint said...

Again, a gorgeous slide show. I'd love to visit Renoir's home. That view!!!

I am anxious to see what you're up to with those blocks of colour set in a mosaic. Love the yellows.

Eva said...

What lovely travel pics, again! Those aqua doors are beautiful, especially with that grey background!

I'm looking forward to see what exactly you're stitching up, the colours and fabrics look great! Also, it's fun to see that your projects go with the mosaic theme in the travel pics! :-)

Anonymous said...

Bang goes the theory of poor starving artist! Those grounds and the farmhouse are beautiful. Love the turquoise door too. Looks like it may have inspired your colour choices on your stitch work.

Lovely pics n your blog. Krista (Poppyprint) just told me about you so thought I'd check it out. Good call, Krista!

Genie -- Paris and Beyond said...

What an amazing place... I'll come and we can visit the glass factory! What treasures you have shown and I love your fabric mosaics!

Bises,
Genie

blandina said...

Biot looks a place worth a visit. I do love the mosaic map, very inspiring. Stitching a map of the old center of Florence is an idea that I have been simmering in my mind for some time.
Intriguing sneak peek of your stitching...

Margaret said...

What gorgeous photos! Wow.

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